SOUTH CAROLINA PAYCHECK CALCULATOR

South Carolina just tore up its old tax brackets. For years the state ran a three-tier system that topped out at 6%, but a bill signed by Governor Henry McMaster this spring collapsed that down to two brackets: 1.99% on your first $30,000 of taxable income and 5.21% on everything above it. If you got a raise this year, your paycheck math changed whether you noticed it or not.

A South Carolina paycheck has three things pulled out of it before it hits your bank account: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare), and now this new two-bracket state tax. There’s no city or county income tax anywhere in the state, and no state disability insurance deduction either, so what you see above is really the whole list. If you’re weighing South Carolina against a move, it’s worth lining it up next to North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, or Florida, all of which tax income very differently.

Every Deduction on a South Carolina Paycheck

• Federal income tax: Uses the 2026 IRS brackets (10% to 37%) after subtracting your federal standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household).
• Social Security: A flat 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 for 2026. Anything you earn above that isn’t taxed for Social Security for the rest of the year.
• Medicare: 1.45% on all wages, with an extra 0.9% kicking in once you cross $200,000 (single or head of household) or $250,000 (married filing jointly). Your employer doesn’t match that extra 0.9%, only you pay it.
• South Carolina state tax: 1.99% on the first $30,000 of taxable income, then 5.21% on the full amount minus $966 once you’re above $30,000, applied after your SCIAD deduction.
• What’s not there: South Carolina has no city or county income tax anywhere in the state, and no state disability insurance or paid family leave payroll tax. What you see above really is the whole list of mandatory deductions.

South Carolina’s 2026 Tax Overhaul: What Actually Changed

The bill behind all this is House Bill 4216, now Act 110. Governor McMaster signed it on March 30, 2026, and it applies retroactively to the start of the 2026 tax year, meaning it’s already shaping every paycheck issued in South Carolina this year. It didn’t just tweak the rates, it rebuilt how the state calculates your taxable income in the first place.

Tax Year	Top Marginal Rate	Bracket Structure
2021	7.0%	Six-tier graduated brackets
2024	6.2%	0% / 3% / 6.2%
2025	6.0%	0% / 3% / 6%
2026	5.21%	1.99% / 5.21% (two brackets)

Before this year, South Carolina calculated your state taxable income by starting with your federal taxable income, which already had the federal standard deduction baked in. Act 110 breaks that link. It tells filers to add the federal standard or itemized deduction back in, then apply a brand-new state-only deduction called the SCIAD (South Carolina Income Adjusted Deduction) instead. It’s a bigger deduction for most people, but it shrinks as your income climbs.

Filing Status	Full SCIAD Amount	Phase-Out Begins	Fully Phased Out
Single / Married Filing Separately	$15,000	$40,000 AGI	$95,000 AGI
Head of Household	$22,500	$60,000 AGI	$142,500 AGI
Married Filing Jointly / Surviving Spouse	$30,000	$80,000 AGI	$190,000 AGI

Act 110 also builds in future rate cuts. Starting in 2027, if the state’s income tax collections are projected to grow by at least 5% year over year, the 5.21% bracket ratchets down automatically. Once that upper rate eventually merges into 1.99%, the whole thing becomes a flat rate that then keeps sliding toward zero under the same revenue-trigger mechanism, though nobody should bank on that happening on any fixed schedule since it depends entirely on state revenue coming in strong. Separately, the law caps South Carolina’s Earned Income Tax Credit at $200, down from an uncapped 125% of the federal EITC.

South Carolina vs. Nearby States: $70,000 Single Filer

Here’s how a $70,000 salary shakes out for a single filer in South Carolina compared with its closest neighbors and a no-tax state, using each state’s 2026 rules.

State	State Tax Owed	Estimated Net Pay
South Carolina	$2,326	$55,749
North Carolina	$2,284	$55,791
Georgia	$2,745	$55,330
Tennessee	$0	$58,075

Net pay figures include federal tax and FICA, which are the same across all four states at this income level. Only the state income tax line changes.

The Trade-Offs: How South Carolina’s Full Tax Picture Stacks Up

Tax Type	South Carolina	How It Compares
Income tax (top rate)	5.21%	Now below where it sat for most of the last decade, and roughly in the middle of the pack nationally
Sales tax (avg. combined)	7.49%	Close to the national population-weighted average of 7.53%, per the Tax Foundation
Property tax (effective rate)	0.49%	Among the lowest 15 or so states in the country
Estate / inheritance tax	None	In line with the majority of states, which no longer levy either

Put together, South Carolina lands 29th out of 50 on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, which weighs the whole tax code rather than just the income tax rate. It’s not a standout low-tax state the way Tennessee or Florida is, but the very low property tax rate quietly does a lot of work for homeowners, especially compared to Georgia’s 0.79% or Illinois-level rates elsewhere in the country.

Retirees: Why South Carolina Keeps Showing Up on “Best States” Lists

If you’re retiring on Social Security, a pension, or a military retirement check, South Carolina treats your income very differently than it treats a paycheck.

• Social Security is never taxed at the state level, no matter how much you receive or what else you earn.
• Military retirement pay is 100% exempt from South Carolina income tax, with no age requirement and no income cap. Survivor Benefit Plan payments get the same treatment.
• Long-term capital gains get a 44% exclusion before the remaining amount is taxed at the regular bracket rates, which matters if a chunk of your retirement income comes from investments.
• South Carolina also has no estate or inheritance tax, so what you pass on isn’t taxed a second time at the state level.

None of this shows up directly in the paycheck calculator above, since that tool is built for W-2 wage income. But if you’re comparing South Carolina to a state like North Carolina, which taxes most retirement income except Social Security and military pay at its flat rate, the difference in your actual retirement cash flow can be substantial.

Federal Tax, Worked Example: $70,000 Single Filer in 2026

Federal tax applies the same way no matter which state you live in, so it’s worth walking through once. Say you’re single with a $70,000 salary and no other income.

1. Subtract the 2026 standard deduction: $70,000 – $16,100 = $53,900 taxable income.
2. 10% bracket, $0 to $12,400: $12,400 × 10% = $1,240
3. 12% bracket, $12,400 to $50,400: $38,000 × 12% = $4,560
4. 22% bracket, $50,400 to $53,900: $3,500 × 22% = $770
5. Total federal tax: $1,240 + $4,560 + $770 = $6,570

That works out to an effective federal rate of about 9.4% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal bracket you technically landed in, since only the top slice of income gets taxed at that rate.

Frequently Asked Questions

South Carolina’s tax code has moved more in the past two years than in the previous decade combined, and the revenue triggers built into Act 110 mean it could keep moving. Anyone budgeting off last year’s pay stub, or off an old bracket table found through a search, is working with numbers that no longer match what actually comes out of a 2026 paycheck.